Lakeland Man Reports ‘Dead Woman’ to 911 — Polk Deputies Bust Him on Warrants Instead

Panic over a supposedly dead woman in a Lakeland neighborhood ended with deputies finding the woman alive — and arresting the caller on three outstanding Polk County warrants. Jerry Lynn Seymour, 63, of Lakeland, made the call Sunday before deputies located him and took him to the sheriff’s processing center.

According to a Tuesday post from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Seymour called deputies saying he did not know where he was and that a dead woman was with him. Seymour later said he had fallen asleep and was confused after waking from a nightmare, while the woman he believed was dead was actually alive and next door.

Deputies responded near North Galloway Road and Sleepy Hill Road, where they found Seymour. The warrants involved failure to appear in a case involving methamphetamine possession and drug paraphernalia, driving with a suspended or revoked license, and resisting without violence. The sheriff’s post did not report a new charge tied to the mistaken death call.

The post also described Seymour as having a lengthy prior criminal history, listing matters involving methamphetamine and cocaine possession, cruelty to animals, battery, illegal dumping, burglary, stalking and criminal mischief. Those allegations were presented as background by the sheriff’s office and were not announced as new charges from Sunday’s incident.

Arrest Warrants, Not A Reported Death

The post did not say what happened to Seymour after processing or whether he remained in custody Tuesday. The official jail inquiry warns that booking information can change and that an arrest does not mean the person has been convicted.

For now, the current arrest described by the sheriff’s office rests on outstanding failure-to-appear warrants, while the older allegations remain background to the booking. No court disposition was included in the information available Tuesday.